AN IDIOTS GUIDE TO GETTING THE MOST OUT OF YOU JOURNALISM INTERNSHIP: PART 1

As I stepped out my front door on Tuesday the 4th of September I put myself into auto-pilot mode and made my way to Ipswich news feeling completely unprepared. I had finished work at 5pm the evening before when the reality suddenly dawned on me that I had absolutely nothing to wear. I scurried from one end of the mall to the other, and I eventually ended up with what I thought was a half decent wardrobe. The second I walked in the door that my efforts had been trivial – overdressed was an understatement. Not to mention my feet had signed out a kill order on me by the end of the day.
Internship lesson #1 Avoid wearing heals at all costs, if unavoidable make sure they’re easy to slip on and off and take every opportunity to do so.

That however has been the most trivial lesson so far. The first day was nothing like I was expecting. Previously when someone mentioned a ‘community newspaper’, these are some words that would spring to mind; dull, monotonous, petty, insignificant…and the list goes on. Luckily, as my editor told me, ‘My expectations almost always surprise me.’

Internship lesson #2 Always expect your expectations to be proven completely wrong, and never be too stubborn to admit it because you could miss out on an opportunity.

So it was that this week has turned out to be one of the more influential experiences in my life. Read more tomorrow to find out why …